Uk Food Shines In Volcanic Disruption

While the impact of the natural disaster could see stores having depleted supplies of imported goods such as bananas, oranges and flowers, experts are hoping the event will make consumers more aware of local food.

“I hope it will highlight the type of produce that is flown in, and make people think more carefully about imports,” says Anthony Davison, founder of the food website. “When imports are available again perhaps people will realise they survived perfectly well without them and wonder whether they should really be buying food with such a high carbon footprint,” he comments.

Air-freighted imports only make up 1.5% of the fresh fruit and vegetables sold in the UK. “However, this is still a huge amount considering the total amount of food imported was 5,268,000 tonnes in 2008. This is especially serious when you consider what a productive and green land we live in,” adds Mr Davison.

BigBarn has been promoting local food producers and independent retailers as an alternative to the multiples for over ten years. “Raising awareness of imports and local food should encourage consumers to change their shopping habits. Hopefully we can convince more people to buy food locally every week, then use the supermarket once a month for the rest of their shopping,” he concludes.